great grandpa bob

This past weekend we were in Kansas celebrating the life of Gabriel’s Great Grandpa Bob who passed away after a very long struggle with a disease similar to Parkinson’s.  I was so thankful that we had been able to stop and visit Great Grandpa (and the rest of the family in Kansas) on our way home from Texas in March.  The last few times we’ve visited Grandpa he seemed less and less like the man who had trained J to drive a tractor and move irrigation pipes on the farm out in Western Kansas.  In March, his speech was so slurred that the only phrase we understood clearly the entire time we were there was, “Jay.  Can.  I.  Hold.  Gabriel?” and of course we agreed right away.  In the photo above, you can see that Grandma was a bit nervous about it at first and I sort of love that their two hands are holding Gabriel together and he’s just sleeping away through the whole thing.  What a wonderful last memory for us to share.

Gabriel was an amazing traveler considering we made two 12-hour trips within the span of four days (and they usually take about 11 hours, so he didn’t add much time to the travel at all!) and only got fussy for a short period of time once per trip and the rest of the time slept or played with the few new dangly toys I’d purchased for the trip or stared at the books I’d brought along.  Such a good sport.

We also very much enjoyed the unexpected opportunity to have Gabriel meet Auntie Liz and Uncle Rob and the cousins before Christmas.  We missed Auntie Teresa and Uncle Sheldon (who are due to have twins sometime in the next month or so, I believe, and were unable to travel), but got to video chat with them on Friday.  It was just so nice to get to spend time with the extended family.  This family has seen some very sudden and sad funerals over the past 10 years and so this one, which was not unexpected or premature was truly a celebration of his life well-lived and the wonderful family that he helped to create.